Andy Griffith's 13-Storey Treehouse goes to the edge of the ridiculous

By Jason Blake

September 23, 2013 — 3.00am

Wow! Who knew the Opera House had a 2D-3D conversion machine? Think of all those performances we've seen over the years that could have been plumped up with a few minutes in that baby.

As many parents with children under 10 already know, Andy Griffiths' The 13-Storey Treehouse is a meta-joke of a book in which Andy and illustrator Terry Denton struggle to write the book that becomes The 13-Storey Treehouse. Here, adaptor Richard Tulloch applies the same logic (or lack thereof) to Andy and Terry's theatrical spin-off.

In a fix: Sarah Woods and the box of props.

Arriving a week late, Andy (Luke Joslin) and Terry (Mark Owen-Taylor) appear on stage with nothing. No script. No plot. No cast (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe were unavailable). But with an audience waiting to be entertained, a grumpy publisher (Mr Big Nose, played by Tulloch in a video cameo) and a bossy stage manager (Sarah Woods) whose motto is "the show must go on", Andy and Terry are compelled to generate a show from sketchy ideas, a big box of props and the output of the 2D-3D converter, which turns pencil-and-paper drawings into the real thing.

Lemonade fountains, sea-monkey infestations and giant gorillas are much easier to conjure in the mind of a reading child than on stage but this production, directed by Julian Louis, does its best. From start to finish, it is a riot of prop gags, some of which are quite impressive such as celebrity dog Mr Barky trampled by a giant gorilla.

Designer Mark Thompson, Nicholas Higgins (lighting and effects) and Jeremy Silver (sound and score) deserve much credit. But Treehouse owes just about everything to the demented energy and adroit interplay generated by Joslin and Owen-Taylor, skilled comic actors who - like Griffiths and Denton - will go to the edge of the ridiculous and beyond to get a laugh.

The show will have a return season at the Opera House from December 28 to January 25.